NC lawmakers lowered graduation requirements. Some schools want them changed back.

Whether intentionally or not, North Carolina lawmakers lowered graduation requirements in their effort to give more students the option to graduate early from high school.

The new state budget requires school districts to offer a sequence of courses that would allow high school students to graduate in three years instead of the traditional four years.

But in the process, lawmakers prohibited local school boards from requiring more courses than what the State Board of Education requires for graduation.

Lawmakers also exempted charter schools from having to offer the three-year graduation option.

In response, the state board passed new rules and policies on Thursday. The law is set to go into effect in the 2024-25 school year to allow high school juniors to graduate early.

“This does eliminate for the ‘24-25 school year the rights of local boards of education to exceed the State Board of Education’s minimum requirements as it is currently in legislation, as well as permit students to graduate early,” said Snea Shah-Coltrane, the state Department of Public Instruction’s director of advanced learning and gifted education. “For the time being, we feel this is responsive to the legislation and as reasonable as we can be.”

State board members are hoping to persuade lawmakers to amend the law before the end of the current school year. Board members want to let local school districts keep their existing graduation requirements while still offering a three-year graduation option.

“For districts, we are cognizant that there is a time crunch for them as they prepare their course catalogs and students sign up for courses early next year,” said state board member Jill Camnitz. “So we are very hopeful that the correction we need for the legislation will be happening very quickly so we can make further adjustments.”

Early graduation as a family choice option

The state board requires high school students to pass at least 22 credits to graduate. But until the new law, the state board annually gave permission for local school boards to exceed the 22 credit minimum.

Some school districts require as many as 28 credits to graduate. Students in those districts can request permission to graduate early with 22 credits.

The early graduation option was promoted by Sen. Michael Lee, a New Hanover County Republican, as a way to provide more family choice. He has cited how his son had to graduate in three-and-a-half years instead of three years due to local graduation requirements.

“I am working with the State Board of Education and Superintendent Truitt to address their concerns about the early graduation sequence during the short session,” Lee said in a statement Thursday.

How many students will graduate early?

The new law requires school districts to inform parents about the three-year graduation option.

Students would need to be at least 16 and get parental consent to graduate in three years. It would be explained to families that graduating early would mean losing access to school services such as playing interscholastic sports.

Caldwell County Superintendent Donald Phipps said there are unique circumstances when his district will let students graduate with the state minimum of 22 credits. He said students benefit from the extra courses that the district requires above the state minimum.

“The work that we’re doing is not fluff that happens after the 22 hours,” Phipps, the 2023 North Carolina Superintendent of the Year, said at the state board’s October meeting. “In fact I would argue that many of the students that are taking the credits that they’re getting outside of the core are getting the things that become important to them professionally.”

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt, a Republican, said she doesn’t think early graduation will become widespread. But Truitt said the early graduation option is another step toward recognizing that the nature of school work is changing.

“It is a very small percentage of students for whom it is right to stop at 22,” Truitt said at the state board’s October meeting. “This may continue to grow as more and more options become available to students. But what I really like is that this policy requires parent buy-in in order for this to happen.”